The development of potentially powerful computer-based tools within rich learning environments is hampered by the constraints of delivery systems (specifically low-resolution, low-real estate displays). In designing a World Wide Web-based tool for manipulating time-based information, the authors have encountered a lack of guidelines or empirical…

This paper describes how the authors use a mixture of World Wide Web (WWW)-based functionalities and new didactics to teach educational technology students at the University of Twente (Netherlands) about the design of WWW-based learning environments. Topics discussed include: (1) the content of courses about the design of educational WWW…

This paper shows how to use design patterns for building educational multimedia applications. The first section summarizes design issues related to organizing the information, the organization of the interface, and implementation. Navigating through information is covered in the second section, including problems, motivations, and solutions, and…

This paper presents a model for systematic instructional design that includes mental model analysis together with the procedures used in developing computer-based instructional materials in the area of statistical hypothesis testing. The instructional design model is based on the premise that the objective for learning is to achieve expert-like…

Teachers average a decision every two minutes when they are teaching. The kinds of decisions they make affect their students. One hundred twenty-two undergraduate and graduate education majors were tested to explore what decision they would make when confronted with problem statements related to the planning and delivery of instruction. The test…

This paper examines some of the theoretical and practical problems associated with the use of hypertext as a medium for teaching, and explores the positive role that it may be able to play in teaching materials. Hypertext is conventionally described as non-linear, and this aspect of non-linearity is interpreted as endowing it with many attractive…

The five papers in this edition address issues of general interest in distance education. In the first paper, "Study Methods and Study Notes: Interim Report," Stephen Relf and Terry Geddes report on a study designed to identify patterns of use and trends in the ways in which distance students use their study notes. In the second paper,…

The pedagogical development of teachers has been described in five stages: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. This study sought to determine if a survey instrument called the Method Acceptance Scale for Teachers (MAST) would be useful in revealing differences among teachers in different stages of development with regard…

Many educators assume that learning occurs best when a student assembles a body of knowledge one piece at a time. With this approach, the teacher allocates to the student a proportioned number of pieces during each class period and the student's job is to work toward making the pieces form some intelligible and meaningful whole. The whole-theme…

This paper contains the results of a study on the importance of discovery learning using computer simulations. The purpose of the study was to identify what constitutes discovery learning and to assess the effects of instructional support measures. College students were observed working with an assignment and a computer simulation in the domain of…

An experimental college level course, Functions and Statistics with Computers, was designed using the textbook "Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry with Computers" developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Students in the experimental course were compared with students in the traditional course based on attitude toward…

The field of instructional technology is characterized by its products, such as instructional media, and its processes, such as instructional design. The process of instructional technology has been shaped by advances in learning and instructional theory over the past 50 years. Much of the development work of the field to date has been on direct…

This qualitative study investigated how 11 full-time university faculty members planned live instruction for adult learners in a telecommunications-based distance education setting. All of the subjects had taught the same courses in a traditional setting and had experience teaching distance courses. Students at 8-11 sites in Utah and Colorado were…

The Instructional Design Environment (IDE), a computer assisted instruction tool for instructional design, has been incorporated into the curriculum and instructional development in mathematics instruction in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). (STEP is a 12-month program leading to an M.A. in education which emphasizes content focus…

This analysis of how the federal government might best promote excellence in education via instructional technology identifies strengths and weaknesses of instructional technology during the 1980's, indicates how technology might aid the teaching and learning process, and suggests how the federal goverment might best assist states and localities…